what's exposed this rift is the fiscal cliff the united states faces this january 1st. the hard righters are attacking any sign of compromise as a white flag of retreat. who is going to come out the winner in this fight? the people who make money pulling conservatives to the hard right or the people who believe conservative officeholders like liberal officeholders have a real stake in making the government work. a far bigger question, will the war on the right help the country unite and avoid the fiscal cliff or will it give the right a chance to bring the house down. with me is ron reagan and dana milbank of the "washington post." before we talk about the gop split, we should republicans in the white house have exchanged new proposal tsds today. and president obama and boehner have spoken at this time. quote, we sent the white house a counteroffer that would achieve reform to solve our looming debt crisis and create more jobs. that's all we know. dana milbank, they say it's good. they said it will solve our problems. they won't say what it is. explain. >> well, look, w